Global container shipping carrier Maersk Line is to acquire German container shipping line Hamburg Sud, termed the seventh largest container shipping line and a leader in the North–South trades. Both the container shipping operators have a presence in India.

Maersk Line is part of the Maersk Group, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Group employs over 88,000 people in some 130 countries. It reported $40.3 billion revenue for 2015. The German company operates 130 container vessels with a container capacity of 625,000 TEU. It reported $6.7 billion in revenue in 2015.

The transaction is subject to due diligence and nod from various regulatory authorities, and is expected to close late 2017, once the necessary approvals have been obtained, a statement said.

In September, Maersk Line announced that it would grow market share organically and through acquisitions. The acquisition of Hamburg Sud is set to increase volumes of both Maersk Line and APM Terminals.

APM Terminals Mumbai is a joint venture company of APM Terminals and the Container Corporation of India, a 74-26 per cent partnership. APM Terminals Mumbai (registered as Gateway Terminals India) signed a license agreement with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to build and operate for 30 years a container terminal at Nhava Sheva port. Hamburg Sud also has offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, as well as two offices in Gujarat.

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